Culture clash

On Wednesday night, when Arsenal defeated Roma in the Champions League, none of the team's starting eleven were from Britain. Indeed, Arsene Wenger has routinely put out sides consisting of players from Spain, Cameroon, France, Russia, Czech Republic et al. Arsenal are not alone in doing this, especially in football. Yet we also see evidence of global labour migration in sports such as basketball, with Pau Gasol (Spain) and Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) both playing NBA in the US. What cultural issues does the multinational nature of teams pose for managers and coaches when players from different countries are likely to have often widely different views on decision-making, relationships on and off-the-field, authority figures, responses to victory and defeat, individual rights, perceptions of time, ways of addressing conflict etc? And what qualities and skills does a coach or manager need to have in order to successfully manage such a heady mix of cultures?